Fourteen hours into Rogue Galaxy, due to doing all the hunts.... Which is this games form of level grinding. Could have been a little more clever if you got rewarded every ten levels instead of getting your first reward at 50. Encounter rates are effing garbage as well. Took over two hours to kill three specific enemy types.

Fourteen hours into Rogue Galaxy, due to doing all the hunts.... Which is this games form of level grinding. Could have been a little more clever if you got rewarded every ten levels instead of getting your first reward at 50. Encounter rates are effing garbage as well. Took over two hours to kill three specific enemy types.

The game, in general, is pretty freaking awful, especially when it comes to AI usefulness.

The game, in general, is pretty freaking awful, especially when it comes to AI usefulness.

How is the game awful? I've had no issues with the AI considering they pretty much attack and then you press a button your finger already rests on to use an ability. I find the game a lot better than a good majority of ps2 rpgs, especially games like the original Dark Cloud (which I love) and something like Legaia 2 Dual Saga.

It is absolutely better than Dark Cloud, I would agree with that fully.

My main issue with it was the lack of party control and the AI kinda being better off dead for most battles. I will give Rogue Galaxy one thing over basically all other games on the PS2 in it's genera (except, maybe, Dragon Quest VIII), the story is the thing that kept me playing. The characters were really entertaining... it's just that the game that went over this story/world/characters/etc was super bleh. (And those crafting systems! Oi!)

Every time I think about the game I don't really remember enjoying my experience, but at the same time wasn't really dreading my experience. ...though, over all, if a game makes me stop and go, "Why aren't you as fun as you should be?" then I kinda sit it in the "bad" category.

Just picked up Yokai Watch for a good price at Target. It's not a bad little game, kinda basic, almost Pokemon-lite if you will. I like how the battle system is a bit different and a little more creative, although I wish it were easier to befriend new Yokai after battles instead of having low odds that increase if you give them their favorite food (which is thrown at a random enemy in the fight, so that doesn't help much either.) But there's a fun mechanic for finding items and battles and such, although they probably could have done more with that, too. Still, if they take all that into consideration for the sequel, that'll be swell.

Speaking of which, how advanced are RPG makers nowadays? I bought RPG Maker 2 about 10 years ago for the PS2 and it was...well, anyone who's tried it out gets where I'm going with it. Can people really make half-decent games or does it really require kickstarter and more advanced software? I'd really like to develop a SRPG that would finally be the worthy progression from where Final Fantasy Tactics set the bar and has never been topped.

Speaking of which, how advanced are RPG makers nowadays? I bought RPG Maker 2 about 10 years ago for the PS2 and it was...well, anyone who's tried it out gets where I'm going with it. Can people really make half-decent games or does it really require kickstarter and more advanced software?

Hit and miss on the games getting made being "decent," but most games that leave RPGMaker and end up with their own (or different/advanced) software are not really RPGMaker games anymore.

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I'd really like to develop a SRPG that would finally be the worthy progression from where Final Fantasy Tactics set the bar and has never been topped.

You could try the Agarest games. They are all on sale on Steam right now, too. The level in detail of them is mind boggling. You also have Disgaea and other games made by Nippon Ichi which should scratch a very similar itch, and do it well.

Hit and miss on the games getting made being "decent," but most games that leave RPGMaker and end up with their own (or different/advanced) software are not really RPGMaker games anymore.

You could try the Agarest games. They are all on sale on Steam right now, too. The level in detail of them is mind boggling. You also have Disgaea and other games made by Nippon Ichi which should scratch a very similar itch, and do it well.

I tried Disgaea, just seemed like too much work to get anywhere. They really ought to have streamlined it better. Every other SRPG I've played lets you advance exponentially faster. Not sure what the appeal is that it got so many sequels. But I'll check out Agarest and see if they thought of everything I thought of.

Them and China are what pushed Ant-Man over the 500 million worldwide mark, from what I read. Can't complain.

I'd love for there to be a Marvel and/or DC comics tactical RPG. Most of the games they make based on superheroes are either fighting or action/adventure style. I'd like to be able to take my time and form strategies like Batman. That way you can't just have a hero beating someone way out of their league because the game has to make it balanced.

It's something of a surprise for me too. partially because I think the yokai designs are... mostly really bad. Like, I can only think of a few that I thought looked decent from what I saw, and I have looked at most of them. Obviously they are modeled after Yokai which are quite varied, but the specific designs/art they use for them just leaves me very tepid toward it.

It's something of a surprise for me too. partially because I think the yokai designs are... mostly really bad. Like, I can only think of a few that I thought looked decent from what I saw, and I have looked at most of them. Obviously they are modeled after Yokai which are quite varied, but the specific designs/art they use for them just leaves me very tepid toward it.

My daughter loves them, they are not supposed to look good, they are demons from Japanese folklore, they are not pretty in that either. They are ugly cute, like pugs and English bulldogs. I enjoy the game and love a lot of the designs of the Yokai.

Actually it isn't that surprising, Game Freak and Nintendo have gotten lazy with pokemon, no real competitors. I love Digimon but it didn't really take off like pokemon did and I won't include monster hunter in this as that is marketed more towards teens and older.

My daughter loves them, they are not supposed to look good, they are demons from Japanese folklore, they are not pretty in that either. They are ugly cute, like pugs and English bulldogs. I enjoy the game and love a lot of the designs of the Yokai.

Actually it isn't that surprising, Game Freak and Nintendo have gotten lazy with pokemon, no real competitors. I love Digimon but it didn't really take off like pokemon did and I won't include monster hunter in this as that is marketed more towards teens and older.

Our definitions of ugly cute are different then. I know they aren't (outside of a few) suppose to be attractive. But I find them not just ugly, but bad designs.

Actually it isn't that surprising, Game Freak and Nintendo have gotten lazy with pokemon, no real competitors. I love Digimon but it didn't really take off like pokemon did and I won't include monster hunter in this as that is marketed more towards teens and older.

^This. Also Pokemon recycles things it's already used. I bet if I went through the index all the way through X and Y, I'd find at least two dozen things based off the same animal/thing and at least a dozen obvious things they haven't yet tapped. I want more variety out of this stuff! Yokai Watch is at least a bit refreshing AND it allows for something I have been wishing Pokemon would do since before Diamond and Pearl: Fusion. Also the way the world map works is a lot more involved than anything Pokemon has done but there are travel restrictions that do remind you it's a kid's game. Also it's as annoying to try and find and successfully capture wild Yokai as it always has been to find and catch rare Pokemon, so they have that in common at least. But unlike Pokemon, very few of the Yokai are throwaways, almost all of them have some value in battle, but there's no way in hell to level them all up and use them all so you do have to limit it to a party of six. The difference with Pokemon is, you never need an HM slave, and it's not difficult at all to find a great team that has a nice balance of attack types. Oh, and the whole elemental weakness thing is out, so that's no longer something that rules out using certain types (at least, that always did for me.)